My pet peeve is tiny print and items without dairy that don't have an allergen label. Since I broke my glasses I've been having a hard time reading labels and twice now I've bought things that had no allergen warning (I can read bold letters more easily) but upon getting home saw dairy in the ingredients.

Usually you can only assume there's no milk if there are other allergens included, but milk isn't one of them. Not always though. I know there's some bigelow tea that just says "natural flavors," but dairy is included in that.

This happens pretty frequently and it drives me bananas! A post in out local Veg FB group went from "Hey, I found these awesome dill pickle chips, and they're vegan!" to "junk food is evil! Everybody should eat a whole foods diet! Too much sodium, to much fat, things void of nutrition should be burned at the stake, blah blah, kill me, blah!"...and so on.

I've just read extracts from a book about an animal communicator (someone who talks telepathically with other animals) and I can't quite believe that after all she says in the introduction, she maintains that other animals exist to be eaten as part of a great web, and all we need to do is be thankful. Ugh.

Oh, and apparently the thousands of chickens that were killed when bird flu hit (some in horrible ways) planned it all as a way to escape humans at the time, but they were actually quite amused by it.

I just cannot stomach the idea that other animals are all out there supposedly sacrificing their lives to teach us humans some kind of cosmic spirituality and wisdom. Don't forget kids - cows only want you to look them in the eyes and thank them their spirit before you slaughter them mercilessly!

Yeah, well all that stuff is just empirically C.R.A.P.

For sure. I mean, it's an interesting idea that people can talk with other animals, and I can't outright dimiss it (since I don't think any actual research has been done into it) but I'm of the opinion that if you did telepathically communicate with a wild rabbit, all he/she'd say is 'Leave me the fork alone, you crazy invasive bugger."

I mean, it's an interesting idea that people can talk with other animals, and I can't outright dimiss it (since I don't think any actual research has been done into it) but I'm of the opinion that if you did telepathically communicate with a wild rabbit, all he/she'd say is 'Leave me the fork alone, you crazy invasive bugger."

I've been getting annoyed by all the vegan books on Amazon recently. It's such a dumb problem to have and 10 years ago I was thrilled to find any vegan cookbooks. Anyway, many of these books have a lot of 5 stars and have beautiful pics, yet since they focus on super healthy (quasi raw/paleo/FOK) recipes, are written by recent converts, and come out in such rapid succession, l can't help but think they'll be shiitake. But they're so preeeetty I want to buy them all, which I suppose is the point.

Also a lot of the authors seem to be big on clean eating, which bugs me to no end. I want to be like, "get out of my special vegan clubhouse, n00bs!" because they seem so inauthentic. That's a dumb response and doesn't help the animals one bit.

Ooh, other peeve right now: I want to buy my husband a lock picking kit for his birthday but the brand everyone recommends uses leather cases! Of course, I can buy all the pieces individually and get a canvas or vinyl case from somewhere else, but it's a pain in the asparagus and more expensive. We are getting into more diy/maker stuff and I'm hoping it's not the case that all the tools we want will have leather somewhere on them (because tools=manly=leather?!?!).

I've been getting annoyed by all the vegan books on Amazon recently. It's such a dumb problem to have and 10 years ago I was thrilled to find any vegan cookbooks. Anyway, many of these books have a lot of 5 stars and have beautiful pics, yet since they focus on super healthy (quasi raw/paleo/FOK) recipes, are written by recent converts, and come out in such rapid succession, l can't help but think they'll be shiitake. But they're so preeeetty I want to buy them all, which I suppose is the point.

Also a lot of the authors seem to be big on clean eating, which bugs me to no end. I want to be like, "get out of my special vegan clubhouse, n00bs!" because they seem so inauthentic. That's a dumb response and doesn't help the animals one bit.

I feel this way too! And then I feel bad for it, because it's silly, and I've totally used the health perspective to convince older relatives to cut back on their meat/dairy intake. I've only been vegan for a little over 3 years. I feel like this big change to health veganism is pretty recent, or was just starting to happen when I joined the club.

Ooh, other peeve right now: I want to buy my husband a lock picking kit for his birthday but the brand everyone recommends uses leather cases! Of course, I can buy all the pieces individually and get a canvas or vinyl case from somewhere else, but it's a pain in the asparagus and more expensive. We are getting into more diy/maker stuff and I'm hoping it's not the case that all the tools we want will have leather somewhere on them (because tools=manly=leather?!?!).

a 'lock picking kit' ?? is he going to develop a sideline as a burglar?

Ooh, other peeve right now: I want to buy my husband a lock picking kit for his birthday but the brand everyone recommends uses leather cases! Of course, I can buy all the pieces individually and get a canvas or vinyl case from somewhere else, but it's a pain in the asparagus and more expensive. We are getting into more diy/maker stuff and I'm hoping it's not the case that all the tools we want will have leather somewhere on them (because tools=manly=leather?!?!).

My husband has a set, and there's no leather. The pieces are all metal, and he made the case himself.

Ooh, other peeve right now: I want to buy my husband a lock picking kit for his birthday but the brand everyone recommends uses leather cases! Of course, I can buy all the pieces individually and get a canvas or vinyl case from somewhere else, but it's a pain in the asparagus and more expensive. We are getting into more diy/maker stuff and I'm hoping it's not the case that all the tools we want will have leather somewhere on them (because tools=manly=leather?!?!).

My husband has a set, and there's no leather. The pieces are all metal, and he made the case himself.

Cool! Do you know what brand it is? HPC was what was recommended to me and all their sets have leather cases. I wanted to buy a set that's going to last for years and not break off in locks or anything. There seem to be lots of beginner kits but most don't get good reviews.

teacup wrote:

a 'lock picking kit' ?? is he going to develop a sideline as a burglar?

Anne (who of course means no disrespect to your dearest)

Haha, it's because we both like tinkering and figuring out how stuff works. My husband gets a kick out of untangling my big hanks of yarn when I knit because it's like a puzzle to him. Something with a bit more logic would be a lot more satisfying, I think!

Ooh, other peeve right now: I want to buy my husband a lock picking kit for his birthday but the brand everyone recommends uses leather cases! Of course, I can buy all the pieces individually and get a canvas or vinyl case from somewhere else, but it's a pain in the asparagus and more expensive. We are getting into more diy/maker stuff and I'm hoping it's not the case that all the tools we want will have leather somewhere on them (because tools=manly=leather?!?!).

My husband has a set, and there's no leather. The pieces are all metal, and he made the case himself.

Cool! Do you know what brand it is? HPC was what was recommended to me and all their sets have leather cases. I wanted to buy a set that's going to last for years and not break off in locks or anything. There seem to be lots of beginner kits but most don't get good reviews.

I sent him an email to ask where his set came from. I think he made/modified a few of the pieces himself. I'll let you know.

I miss my Wildwood Soyogurt like crazy. Sprouted soy beans, so delicious, perfect with fresh fruit or on indian food.

And I miss my back Whole Soy back-up. The only plan B I had when Wildwood was sold out (and then went away) for Unsweetened Plain yogurt. And now they're gone.

And I'm left with disgustingly sweet Nancy's and whatever the heck So Delicious is doing. I mean, I generally like So Delicious (sup ice cream), but one bite of the "greek" yogurt had me dry heaving at my desk (though I understand it's only me - my partner loved his).

Mama needs her probiotics. Don't make me quit my job just so I can find the time to make yogurt at home.

_________________"The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax,Of Capsicums & Things."

Oh I looove how cheap it is. I guess I've been making it too hard on myself (first making soymilk from scratch/straining out the okara, preheating a crockpot, wrapping said crockpot in a towel and monitoring it). It's still not too tough to do, but the hands-on time is more like 30-60 min, and with the 12-hour sit time, it's rare that I'll be home when it's ready to go in the fridge (making the weekend the only possible time to do it - if we're not gone). Not to mention, I've always used plain unsweetened yogurt as my starter and now I don't know what to add...

What do you do?

Bah. Between missing yogurt and the bagel cart only having egg-washed bagels left this morning, I'm in a grumpy-vegan mood.

_________________"The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax,Of Capsicums & Things."

I hate when people say "I don't understand why people eat fake meat products. If you want something that is like chicken, then just eat chicken!" Umm, do you understand why most people are vegetarians/vegans? It's not cos we all HATE the taste of meat and dairy; it's cos we care about how much our food suffered before it reached our plate.

_________________lack toast intolerant: intolerant of not having toast

Oh I looove how cheap it is. I guess I've been making it too hard on myself (first making soymilk from scratch/straining out the okara, preheating a crockpot, wrapping said crockpot in a towel and monitoring it). It's still not too tough to do, but the hands-on time is more like 30-60 min, and with the 12-hour sit time, it's rare that I'll be home when it's ready to go in the fridge (making the weekend the only possible time to do it - if we're not gone). Not to mention, I've always used plain unsweetened yogurt as my starter and now I don't know what to add...

What do you do?

Bah. Between missing yogurt and the bagel cart only having egg-washed bagels left this morning, I'm in a grumpy-vegan mood.

I find that even if I use plain sweetened yogurt as my starter, by the time it's diluted into the soy milk the sugar isn't noticeable. The end result is still plain, unsweetened yogurt.

I hate when people say "I don't understand why people eat fake meat products. If you want something that is like chicken, then just eat chicken!" Umm, do you understand why most people are vegetarians/vegans? It's not cos we all HATE the taste of meat and dairy; it's cos we care about how much our food suffered before it reached our plate.

Even better is when they call you a hypocrite for it. what the fizzle?

We do yogurt overnight in a yogurt maker with unsweetened soy milk and plain yogurt as the starter... We usually use the so delicious coconut which is somewhat sweetened but yeah, the end product doesn't taste sweet at all. Which is good, because if it was sweet, I'd feel wrong mixing jam into it.

Wholesoy is building their own production facility because no co-packers were able to keep up with their production needs. The anticipate fall 2013 for a return to stores but there is no way to know if that will happen. They have many blog/website/FB posts about it for more information and to keep up to date.